I think the real Mission: Impossible for Tom Cruise, a.k.a. Ethan Hunt and his cohorts of the IMF team, is to top THIS Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the latest in the action-espionage films.
The first of two parts of a craftily told spy thriller, the movie has a long run-time – more than two and a half hours – but it speeds by on a stream of non-stop action and adrenaline. And boy, did the blockbuster season need it. In an otherwise mostly lackluster summer, The Impossible Mission Force runs full tilt into action and danger. Every moment is tautly edited, and gorgeous globe-trotting locations draw you into the life-and-death world of an IMF agent. Add to that Cruise doing all his own stunts – which include driving a motorcycle off a cliff and landing on a runaway train – and you’ve got a film that’s visually addictive.
And I haven’t even gotten around to the plot yet. Without giving away too much, the storyline is refreshingly different and utterly chilling. A rogue artificial intelligence is an antagonist in this one, an enemy so au currant that the boundaries between truth and fiction start to blur – both for the IMF and for the audience.
At the core of the film is the back story of Ethan Hunt, how and why he got into the IMF in the first place. Director Christopher McQuarrie artfully tied this, the seventh in the series of Mission: Impossible films, back to the first one, directed by Brian DePalma, from 1996. A recurring theme is that Hunt’s past is coming back to haunt him. The storyline ties the many excellent ensemble characters together and adds cohesion to the entire series of films – rare for a franchise with this long of a history. Returning IMF members Benji Dunn, played by Simon Pegg, and Luther Stickwell, portrayed by Ving Rhames, add witty levity throughout – when they’re not saving a teammate or the world, that is. New characters appear, too, rounding out an “impossibly” great cast. Haley Atwell plays Grace, a highly skilled thief who is more than a match for Hunt.
Lorne Balfe’s riveting score is always present, as is the happy familiarity of the original Mission: Impossible TV theme from 1966, written by Lalo Shiffrin. Yet Balfe’s score never gets in the way or detracts from the intensity of that we are enjoying. It only adds to each second of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Thrills and action, brilliant writing, great music, extraordinary sets, and a phenomenal cast add up to what is likely the best Mission: Impossible film yet, and, thus far, the best movie of the season. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get into a theater and see it in the biggest format you can.